The present invention relates to the manufacture/assembling, shipping, configuring and reconfiguring of computers, especially personal computers.
Traditionally, personal computers have been manufactured by simultaneously assembling together the housing and at least most of the functional electrical components, such that once assembled, the computer is ready to be tested and shipped to distribution centers. One shortcoming is that if any subsequent reconfiguring of the computer to change its operational characteristics (e.g., add or remove certain drives, extend memory, add or remove expansion boards, etc.) requires that the computer be substantially disassembled. Not only is that time consuming and burdensome, but in cases where the computers need to be reconfigured after they have been packaged in shipping containers, it is necessary for workers to first open the containers, remove the packing material and lift the computers out of the containers, thereby risking physical injury, especially back injury, due to repeated bending and lifting.
A computer has been proposed which has a housing with a removable top cover that enables the computer to be reconfigured without being removed from the container. However, it is still necessary for the workers to remove the packing material and to perform an appreciable disassembling of the computer. Also, those efforts require that the workers perform repeated bending motions in order to reach down into the container, thereby risking physical injury as noted above.
Also, conventional computers are constructed such that their aesthetic appearance is produced by the configuration of walls which are integral with the computer housing, whereby the appearance of the computer cannot be reconfigured without completely disassembling the computer.